AfroCubism is currently on tour in Europe, where this group of Malian and Cuban greats played a sold-out show at the Barbican in London on Sunday. The Arts Desk called it "one of the most transporting and life-affirming gigs of the year." The Evening Standard gave it a perfect five stars, saying: "The musical links are real and there’s a clear physical delight in throwing round the exuberant solos." Band member Toumani Diabaté gave the BBC World Service a brief tutorial on the kora and how this traditional Malian instrument worked so well with the sounds of Cuba on AfroCubism.
AfroCubism is currently on tour in Europe, performing in Ljublana, Slovenia, tonight, before heading next to Turkey. This supergroup of expert Malian and Cuban musicians played a sold-out show at the Barbican in London this past Sunday.
The Arts Desk called it "one of the most transporting and life-affirming gigs of the year." The Evening Standard gave the concert a perfect five-star rating. "Cuban music has been hugely popular in Mali and much of the Cuban population originally came from West Africa on the slave ships," says the paper's Simon Broughton. "So there’s more than a sense of joining up the circle in this spectacular group. The musical links are real and there’s a clear physical delight in throwing round the exuberant solos." Read more at thisislondon.co.uk.
MusicOMH gives the concert four stars. "One of the most attractive things about AfroCubism," says reviewer Edward Randell, "is that although it speaks volumes about the musical heritages of Cuba and Mali, it does so in an ostentatiously new way. Thanks to the players' sensitivity to each other's musical languages, the fusion never feels the least bit contrived or uneasy. By using so many instruments with a brightly rhythmic quality, they achieve thick and sunny grooves that amble along irresistibly, allowing different colours to come to the fore and then slink back into the mix." There's much more in the complete concert review at musicomh.com.
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While in London, AfroCubism band member Toumani Diabaté gave the BBC World Service a brief tutorial on how to play the kora, the instrument for which he has garnered such great renown, and explains a bit about its traditional role in Malian music and how it combined with Cuban guitar sounds of his band mates to make AfroCubism such a success. You can watch the video at bbc.co.uk. Diabaté was recently included twice on the fRoots Critics Poll of Best New Album of 2010, both for the AfroCubism album and for his duo album with the late, great African guitarist Ali Farka Touré.
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To pick up a copy of AfroCubism in North America with high-quality MP3s of the album included at checkout, along with the bonus track "Keme Bourama," head to the Nonesuch Store now. To get an idea of the band's live show, you can watch a video of their performance at nonesuch.com/media.
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